DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1041#0028
16 History of the Society of Dilettanti
llanbury
Williams,
Mitchell,
Villlers.
Smyth,
Hay,
Sfence,
&c.
The diplomatists who appear as original members
of the Society of Dilettanti were all distinguished
in their careers, though their residence abroad natur-
ally disabled them from taking any part in the
regular proceedings of the Society. Sir Charles
Hanbury Williams, the famous wit and satirist, spent
nearly all his life abroad as envoy to Dresden,
Berlin, or St. Petersburg. His letters, however, show
that he never lost his interest in the Society.
Mention has already been made of the services
rendered to that body by Sir James Gray. Sir Andrew
Mitchell achieved real distinction as envoy to the
Court of Prussia, inasmuch as he was one of the
few people who gained the confidence of that
eccentric monarch, Frederick II. Thomas Villiers,
second son of the Earl of Jersey, had a long and
remarkable career in diplomacy, and was created
successively Baron Hyde and Earl of Clarendon;
he died in 17 8 6, having bequeathed to his descen-
dants a hereditary aptitude for the transaction of
foreign affairs.
The two members who became distinguished as
prelates of the Church naturally took but little
part in the convivial meetings of the Society.
Arthur Smyth, son of the Bishop of Limerick,
travelled for some time abroad after leaving Oxford,
for a time in the company of the Earl of Middlesex j
he became successively Dean of Raphoe and of
Derry, Bishop of Clonfert, of Down, and of Meath,
and eventually Archbishop of Dublin and Primate
of Ireland, and died in 1771- Robert Hay, second
of a small dining society, called c The Harry the Fifth' or ' The
Gang,5 presided over by Frederick, Prince of Wales, of which
there is a portrait-group, painted by C. Philips, in the corridor at
Windsor Castle.
llanbury
Williams,
Mitchell,
Villlers.
Smyth,
Hay,
Sfence,
&c.
The diplomatists who appear as original members
of the Society of Dilettanti were all distinguished
in their careers, though their residence abroad natur-
ally disabled them from taking any part in the
regular proceedings of the Society. Sir Charles
Hanbury Williams, the famous wit and satirist, spent
nearly all his life abroad as envoy to Dresden,
Berlin, or St. Petersburg. His letters, however, show
that he never lost his interest in the Society.
Mention has already been made of the services
rendered to that body by Sir James Gray. Sir Andrew
Mitchell achieved real distinction as envoy to the
Court of Prussia, inasmuch as he was one of the
few people who gained the confidence of that
eccentric monarch, Frederick II. Thomas Villiers,
second son of the Earl of Jersey, had a long and
remarkable career in diplomacy, and was created
successively Baron Hyde and Earl of Clarendon;
he died in 17 8 6, having bequeathed to his descen-
dants a hereditary aptitude for the transaction of
foreign affairs.
The two members who became distinguished as
prelates of the Church naturally took but little
part in the convivial meetings of the Society.
Arthur Smyth, son of the Bishop of Limerick,
travelled for some time abroad after leaving Oxford,
for a time in the company of the Earl of Middlesex j
he became successively Dean of Raphoe and of
Derry, Bishop of Clonfert, of Down, and of Meath,
and eventually Archbishop of Dublin and Primate
of Ireland, and died in 1771- Robert Hay, second
of a small dining society, called c The Harry the Fifth' or ' The
Gang,5 presided over by Frederick, Prince of Wales, of which
there is a portrait-group, painted by C. Philips, in the corridor at
Windsor Castle.